Ahem. Perhaps the blessed Apostles blundered in forsaking all, and surrendering their boats to become mere fishers of men.

Think of the millions to have been gained by and for the Church, through means of an Evinrude (or two) appended to each and every stern, and the performance of Team-Hydrobatics for Christ along the placid shores of Tiberias? Or at least along the escarpments of the Wisconsin Dells, eventually?

Note added in proof: Millions of people were drawn to the riotous mayhem of the chariot race, as faithfully depicted in Lew's Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ, in the 60's. Now that was REAL, compelling slaughter.

Okay, okay, so the reference above is to MGM's filmed version of Ben Hur, produced in the 1960's (A.D.) ... which had noticeably little to do with Christ or His saving Gospel. Then again, neither did Gen'l Lew Wallace's book, on which the Hollywood epic was (kind-of) based, despite its come-on title. Or the buckin' cinctured bulls of our age's rodeos ... uh, of our churches.